USD 450 million to improve urban mobility and territorial connectivity in Colombia

July 19, 2016

The funds approved by CAF consist of a budgetary support with
freely available resources, and will contribute to the Government's
efforts to strengthen its public policies to promote modern cities,
sustainable urban mobility, and territorial connectivity

CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, granted
a long-term loan for USD 450 million to the program Ciudades
Modernas e Infraestructura para la Integración Territorial
Sostenible (Modern Cities and Infrastructure for Sustainable
Territorial Integration), in order to support strategic public
policy actions of high impact, that help improve the connectivity
of the territories in a post-conflict scenario, promote sustainable
urban development, and optimize the public transportation systems
of Colombia.

The funds, managed by the Ministry of Finance
and Public Credit, and the National Planning Department (DNP, for
its acronym in Spanish), are aligned with the Government's
initiatives in different areas of urban development, such as the
creation of sustainable cities, improvement of urban mobility, and
greater territorial connectivity to achieve urban-rural integration
that contributes to increase productivity and consolidate cities as
economic drivers of the country.

Enrique García, CAF's Executive President,
explained "Today more than ever, we need cities that are more
inclusive, competitive, efficient, and sustainable, that position
citizens in the center of action, and that are the real drivers of
economic growth. It is for this reason that investments to improve
urban and inter-urban infrastructure are so important, as they have
a positive impact on the environment and contribute to a necessary
productive transformation of the countries".

Among other things, CAF's support in financing
this loan will contribute to the development and follow-up of
public policies that promote urban development and infrastructures
for a sustainable territorial integration; to promote dialogue
about essential aspects for the country's sustainable development;
and achieve the objective of optimizing the State's financial
management that has been prioritized by the Ministry of Finance and
Public Credit.

Agreement for the subscription of capital
shares

In the framework of the capital increase of USD
4.5 billion agreed by CAF's Board in November 2015, an agreement
was signed with Colombia to subscribe ordinary capital shares for
USD 572 million, ratifying the country's commitment with the
integration process and CAF's development agenda in Latin America.
This capital strengthening will allow the multilateral organization
to have a significant growth in its operations, benefiting the
Republic of Colombia and the rest of the shareholder countries,
preserving their financial solidity.